The Pixar Secret We Never Heard Of

Will you spot the hidden reference?

In the last few days, an online buzz has caught our attention. According to this Huffington Post article, there's a hidden reference to a certain A113 in nearly every Pixar movie. 

At A113Animation we love that sort of stuff, and, learning about that story, we immediately saw its potential; obviously we had no clue there was this recurring A113 Easter egg in the Pixar films, or what it referenced.

But we thought it would be interesting to share our reaction to this brand new discovery.

Watch: Brand New Clip from Disney's Get a Horse!

Disney animation legend Eric Goldberg, who served as hand-drawn animation supervisor for Get a
 Horse!

85 years ago today, Mickey Mouse first appeared on our screens in the now classic Steamboat Willie (watch the short in our recap for Disney 90th anniversary here). To commemorate this milestone, Disney have released a brand new clip from Get a Horse!, the vintage-styled Mickey short that precedes Frozen in cinemas.

"I Am the D'ohnger": Breaking Bad Meets The Simpsons in New Couch Gag

Much like the fan-made picture we shared a while back, The Simpsons is being mashed up with Breaking Bad, but in a more official manner this time: The Huffington Post shared the above video, which is the couch gag from the next episode of the hit Fox animated series.

The episode, What Animated Women Want, will star the voices of Wanda Sykes and Internet-God George Takei and airs in the US this Sunday on Fox. In the meantime, enjoy the show's opening, in which Marge cooks up some of that sweet blue stuff - cupcakes, that is - on repeat.

Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston has previously lent his voice to the season 23 Simpsons episode, The Spy Who Learned Me. Both he and co-star Aaron Paul appeared in hilarious fashion at the end of the gag. News broke on Wednesday that Cranston had joined the cast of DreamWorks' Kung Fu Panda 3.

Breaking Bad begins the final stretch of its final season this summer - although a spin-off may already be in the works. Interestingly, Matt Groening once toyed with the idea of a live-action Krusty the Clown.

Sorry for the terrible pun in the title. Couldn't resist.

Rich Moore Talks Wreck-It Ralph 2

Late in January, Rich Moore spoke to The Huffington Post about all things Wreck-It Ralph: the production of the film, his reaction to its Oscar nomination and a few more teases about the possible sequel.

Watch: Acclaimed Disney Short Film, Paperman

It's Oscar nominated, it's Annie nominated and now you can watch it online - John Kahrs' acclaimed animated short film, Paperman, which was released alongside Disney's latest feature, Wreck-It Ralph is now on YouTube (embedded above).

Huffington Post's Jim Hill exclusively unveiled the short, and it's a great show of faith by Disney in its fans to release the short in its entirety. Of course, more exposure can't hurt its Oscar chances either - particularly when it's got such strong competition, with films like The Longest Daycare and Adam and Dog.

Given that Wreck-It Ralph still isn't out here in the UK yet, this is the first time I've seen Paperman, and it really was worth the wait. The striking black-and-white look, the depth accomplished through the new, innovative technology, that delicately beautiful score and, most of all, the heart-warming story all make Paperman an absolute must-see - one that, fortunately, we can all now see.

Paperman debuts on the big screen in the UK with Wreck-It Ralph on 8th February.

Watch: Super-Awesome Live Action Toy Story

I'm a massive Toy Story fan, but I don't think I've got a patch on these guys. Some crazily cool guys have been working away for a while now on creating (or rather, recreating) Toy Story entirely in live-action, using real toys and real people. The full version was completed and uploaded a couple of days ago, and boy, it's really caught on! Everyone from /Film to MSN to The Huffington Post has covered the story, check out why and watch the great full film above.

Congrats to Jonason Pauley, Jesse Perrotta and the great crew for creating such a labour of fan-love and for getting such great recognition for it. Facebook here, Twitter here.

Brave to be Dedicated to Steve Jobs

The Wall Street Journal's blog Speakeasy tells us that "One of the most emotional moments in the coming Pixar computer-animated film “Brave” happens during the end credits."

The reason for the emotional end-credits is that they sport a tribute to former Pixar owner and longtime friend and mentor of the studio, former Apple CEO, the late Steve Jobs. Jobs bought into the company in 1986, where he financed a spin-off of the Lucasfilm Graphics Group on 3rd February, to be called Pixar. Jobs mentored the studio and its financial well being until Disney purchased it for $7.4 billion in 2006, where he became the largest individual shareholder in the world's largest media conglomerate.

Alas, Jobs passed away, at the age of 56, on 5th October last year, after losing a battle to pancreatic cancer. Brave will be the first Pixar films since Jobs' passing and the first to pay tribute to him.

It's a fitting and very respectful tribute.

Via The Huffington Post.